


Repairs

by ShaneVansen



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-28
Updated: 2010-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-07 14:46:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaneVansen/pseuds/ShaneVansen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atlantis isn't the only one that's injured.  Rodney has some repairs to effect.  <i>First Strike</i> post-ep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repairs

**Author's Note:**

> Not betaed so all mistakes are mine.
> 
> Originally posted to LJ May 2007.

"Dr. McKay?"

"I'm awake!" Rodney shot upright, heart pounding at the rush of adrenaline. "What is it?" he asked Dr. Röhm, swiping at a string of drool with the back of his hand.

Röhm showed him a tablet. "The latest set of diagnostics have finished running. I thought you might want to see them."

"Of course I do." Rodney snatched the tablet from Röhm's grasp, immersing himself in the data and ignoring the other scientist entirely. "Good, good, bad, better than I expected, bad, bad, good… oh, no. Sheppard's not going to be happy."

"We tried to contact him." Rodney snapped his head up, having forgotten Röhm was there. "He's not in the command center or the chair room. Should I…?"

Since Atlantis had taken flight two days earlier, Sheppard could be found in one of three places. If he wasn't in the control room or sitting in the command chair, Rodney knew exactly where he'd be. "No," he said, sliding off the stool. "I'll tell him. You join Coleman's team and help them fix the longe-range communications systems."

Rodney made his way to his destination with his head buried in the newest data, already assessing which of the city's systems were most critically damaged and devising ways to either fix or work around them. The sound of Sheppard's voice brought him out of his calculations and he paused, lifting his head.

"I think you'll like it here," the colonel was saying quietly. "We had to land on one of the continents so we're surrounded by mountains instead of ocean, but it's snowing. I know how much you miss the snow."

Rodney cleared his throat self-consciously, uncomfortable at overhearing what sounded like a private conversation. "How's she doing?" he asked, sliding into a chair across from Sheppard and watching him pull his hands away from Elizabeth's.

"No change," Sheppard answered, his eyes barely moving from Elizabeth's face. "Keller gave me a bunch of details but all I got out of it is that she's still not sure when or if Elizabeth will wake up."

"I'm sure she will," Rodney comforted awkwardly. "Elizabeth's strong. She'll pull through." To be honest, he couldn't even begin to comprehend what would happen if she never woke up. It would be more than he could handle.

He glanced back up at Sheppard, for the first time struck by how exhausted he looked. "Have you even slept since we left Lantea?" he asked, worried. The colonel had spent several shifts in the control chair and had been the one responsible for landing them on this planet, and Rodney knew firsthand how much the effort of using the chair for extended periods drained the user.

"I'm too tired to sleep," Sheppard said in response to his question, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Rodney frowned. "You know, you really should—"

"I need to be here!" Sheppard snapped, then visibly calmed himself down. He rested his hand on Elizabeth's forearm. "I need to be here," he repeated more quietly, his eyes still on her face. "It's my fault she's here. If I'd launched the city just a second faster—"

"And if I'd raised the shields just a second faster she wouldn't have been hurt!" Though it had been Elizabeth's idea to lower the shields entirely, Rodney had expended a lot of energy in trying to ignore his guilt – if he hadn't argued, they would have been able to raise the shield well before the asteroid moved past the Asurans' laser. If he stopped to really think about it, he'd never be able to focus on getting the city up and running. Instead, he'd suppress it until Atlantis was safe and Elizabeth was well; there'd be plenty of time for wallowing later.

Either that, or the Asurans would kill them all. Then he wouldn't be around to care one way or the other.

"Look," he began, "I know how you feel about Elizabeth—"

"What the hell are you talking about, McKay?"

Rodney waved an impatient hand. "Oh, please. Could you be any more obvious? The flirting, the gifts, the looks…." Sheppard narrowed his eyes and Rodney quickly moved on. "Anyway, my point is that she obviously loves you too. She wouldn't want you exhausting yourself just to sit by her bedside."

There was a strange look in Sheppard's eyes as he looked down at Elizabeth. It took Rodney a minute to figure out what it meant. "You didn't know," he breathed, seeing the situation in an entirely new light. "I mean, the way you two look at and act around each other, I just assumed...."

"Is there a reason why you're here, McKay?"

Sheppard sounded a whole new level of tired. Rodney shifted uneasily in his chair. "Uh, right. We've got the results of the latest diagnostics." He handed over the tablet he'd forgotten he even had. "Good news is that I think we'll be able to have the shields fixed by tomorrow. Not-so-good news is that I'm not sure if I can get the engines functioning well enough for Atlantis to fly, at least not anytime soon. Bad news is that, assuming I _can_ get the engines working, we only have enough power for them _or_ the shields, not both."

The colonel took the tablet, glanced at it, then set it aside. "Defense is our primary goal right now. Get the shields up and running, then get to work on our offensive capabilities. We seem to be safe enough on this planet, so the engines aren't essential for the moment – we can't go after the Asurans without shields and weapons anyway."

"Sure. Yeah. I'll get on it." Rodney stood, then hovered by the end of the bed. Sheppard sighed.

"Was there something else?"

"I just— I'm sorry." He patted Elizabeth's leg, squeezed Sheppard's shoulder as he passed by, and fled the room for the safety of his lab, where he could bury himself in calculations and repairs until he was so exhausted that he'd fall into a dreamless sleep.

The entire time he worked, he was haunted by the look on Sheppard's face as he held Elizabeth's hand.

_\--end--_


End file.
